1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to improvements to in-store retail service terminals, and more particularly to advantageous aspects of a system and methods for using in-store retail service terminals to display promotions and collect promotion data.
2. Description of the Prior Art
At present, there is no integrated system for retailers to display product promotions. Rather, a typical retail establishment relies on an assortment of signs, placards, standing cardboard displays, leaflets and other promotional materials positioned throughout the store to provide promotional information to customers. This approach suffers from a number of disadvantages. First, it is difficult to present the promotional information to the customers in a coordinated and effective manner. Further, it is a cumbersome process to update or rearrange the promotional information, as may be required. In addition, the lack of an integrated system means that it is virtually impossible for a retailer to accumulate any kind of meaningful statistical data relating to the promotional information being displayed. The absence of these data makes it difficult for a retailer to determine the amount of money to be charged for each promotion.
There is thus a need for an automated system for displaying product promotion information to in-store retail customers in a coordinated and effective manner, and for accumulating statistical data relating to the display of the information.
The present invention provides a product promotion display system, comprising a server computer hosting a network of terminals, each terminal having a display for displaying advertisements and product promotion information to a customer. The server computer has access to a product promotion database containing data to be used in assembling advertisements and product promotion information to be displayed on one or more of the terminals. A product promotion software object executed by the server computer accesses the database in order to retrieve data therefrom to be used in assembling advertisements and product promotion information to be displayed on one or more of the terminals. A user interface connected to the terminals and to the promotion software object causes the assembled advertisements and product promotion information to be displayed on one or more of the terminals.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent by reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.